Review
Immunology
Martina Soledad Paoletta, Silvina Elizabeth Wilkowsky
Summary: Apicomplexan parasites transmitted by vectors, such as Babesia spp. and Plasmodium spp., cause severe diseases in humans and animals. The interaction between parasites and host cells is mediated by adhesive proteins, specifically the Thrombospondin related anonymous protein (TRAP) superfamily, which plays a crucial role in the parasite's life cycle. Recent studies have provided new insights into the function and relevance of TRAP proteins in vector-borne parasites.
FRONTIERS IN CELLULAR AND INFECTION MICROBIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Virology
Renuka Rao, Melad Farraha, Grant J. Logan, Sindhu Igoor, Cindy Y. Kok, James J. H. Chong, Ian E. Alexander, Eddy Kizana
Summary: This study compared two production methods for cardiotropic rAAVs, finding that rAAV produced by the traditional HEK293 method outperformed vector produced using the baculovirus/Sf9 system in vitro and in vivo. This underscores the importance of thorough assessment of vector performance when using diverse rAAV production methods.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Sajedah M. Hindi, Michael J. Petrany, Elena Greenfeld, Leah C. Focke, Alyssa A. W. Cramer, Michael A. Whitt, Ramzi J. Khairallah, Christopher W. Ward, Jeffrey S. Chamberlain, Benjamin Podbilewicz, Vikram Prasad, Douglas P. Millay
Summary: The muscle-specific fusogens Myomaker and Myo-merger can replace viral fusogens to mediate membrane fusion and deliver therapeutic genes to skeletal muscle. By engineering these muscle fusogens onto enveloped viruses, targeted transduction of skeletal muscle is achieved, providing a potential treatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
Article
Immunology
Manon M. J. Cox
Summary: The insect cell expression system, proposed as the preferred biosecurity strategy for vaccine production, has limitations that need to be addressed for effective use in future pandemics.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Sung-Jae Cha, Min-Sik Kim, Chan Hyun Na, Marcelo Jacobs-Lorena
Summary: Plasmodium sporozoites infect the liver after inoculation, where they produce merozoites that infect red blood cells causing malaria symptoms. The HP1 peptide mimics a sporozoite ligand for hepatocyte recognition and partially protects mice from infection by rodent parasites. This mimotope also inhibits human parasite infection of human hepatocytes, showing potential as a novel pre-erythrocytic vaccine candidate.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Konstantin Virnik, Wenshuo Zhou, Alexei Medvedev, Gabrielle Walsh, Jasper Perry-Anderson, Victoria Majam, Barbara K. Felber, Sanjai Kumar, Ira Berkower
Summary: There is an urgent need for a malaria vaccine that can prevent severe disease in young children and adults. Researchers have developed a promising malaria vaccine strategy using live viral vectors based on the rubella vaccine strain, demonstrating immunogenicity and durability in a rhesus macaque model. The sequential immunization strategy using CSP-DNA vaccine priming and rubella/CSP vectors boosting showed promising results in generating specific antibodies to native CSP protein and long-lasting immunity in macaques.
BIOCHEMICAL AND BIOPHYSICAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Review
Virology
Matias L. Pidre, Paula N. Arrias, Leslie C. Amoros C. Morales, Victor Romanowski
Summary: This article reviews the technological applications of insect-specific enveloped baculoviruses. It summarizes the natural cycle of the virus in larvae and cell culture and how it can be exploited. It discusses various applications of baculovirus-based protein expression systems (BEVS) in the pharmaceutical and biotechnological industry. Finally, it extensively describes different gene therapy strategies based on baculoviruses for the treatment of various diseases.
Article
Microbiology
Hayley E. Masterson, Naomi S. Taus, Wendell C. Johnson, Lowell Kappmeyer, Janaina Capelli-Peixoto, Hala E. Hussein, Michelle R. Mousel, Diego J. Hernandez-Silva, Jacob M. Laughery, Juan Mosqueda, Massaro W. Ueti
Summary: This study compared the expression of the Babesia bovis thrombospondin-related anonymous protein (TRAP) family in different host and in vitro stages, finding that TRAP proteins may serve as potential vaccine targets to prevent infection, contributing to controlling the spread.
Article
Genetics & Heredity
Cintia N. Parsza, Diego L. M. Gomez, Jorge A. Simonin, Mariano Nicolas Belaich, Pablo D. Ghiringhelli
Summary: The study demonstrated that the budded virions of Anticarsia gemmatalis multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus (AgMNPV) can transduce and support the expression of delivered genes in mammalian cells but do not replicate. Therefore, AgMNPV has the potential to be used as an alternative to non-infectious viruses in humans for exploring new approaches in gene therapy and other applications based on the use of mammalian cells.
CURRENT GENE THERAPY
(2021)
Article
Virology
Leslie C. Amoros Morales, Abril Marchesini, Santiago M. Gomez Bergna, Matias Garcia Fallit, Silvana E. Tongiani, Larisa Vasquez, Maria Leticia Ferrelli, Guillermo A. Videla-Richardson, Marianela Candolfi, Victor Romanowski, Matias L. Pidre
Summary: Baculoviruses are widely used insect-specific pathogens in biotechnology. The PluriBAC system, a highly versatile baculoviral transfer vector generation system, allows for efficient generation of recombinant baculoviruses for different applications. The recombinant viruses generated using PluriBAC system can infect insects and transduce tumor and normal cells.
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Dhwanil A. Dalwadi, Andrea Calabria, Amita Tiyaboonchai, Jeffrey Posey, Willscott E. Naugler, Eugenio Montini, Markus Grompe
Summary: Research found a high frequency of chromosomal integrations of recombinant adeno-associated viral vectors in liver cells, with most inserted sequences heavily rearranged and accompanied by deletions of host genomic sequences at integration sites. This indicates a certain risk associated with rAAV integration.
Article
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Chiaki Kawabata, Yusuke Kawai, Takahiko Tamura
Summary: The study investigated the combination of CSP and CRPs in a BV system to enhance transduction efficacy and resist complement attack. By infecting CSP type BV to insect Sf9 cells stably expressing CRPs, the resulting CSP-CD46-DAF-CD59 BV showed significantly improved transduction efficacy in human hepatoma HepG2 cells under intact serum exposure, indicating the potential for generating BVs with novel functions through stable protein expression in cells.
BIOLOGICAL & PHARMACEUTICAL BULLETIN
(2021)
Article
Parasitology
Thau Sy Nguyen, Ji-Hoon Park, Tuyet-Kha Nguyen, Truong Van Nguyen, Seong-Kyun Lee, Sung-Hun Na, Jin-Hee Han, Won-Sun Park, Wanjoo Chun, Feng Lu, Eun-Taek Han
Summary: This study identified the interaction between Plasmodium vivax merozoite-specific thrombospondin-related anonymous protein (PvMTRAP) and human CD36, which was found to be specific at a molecular level. Flow cytometry results demonstrated that PvMTRAP preferentially binds to reticulocytes, further confirming the selective abundance of CD36 on reticulocytes.
PARASITES & VECTORS
(2023)
Article
Medicine, Research & Experimental
Dongxin Wang, Qungang Zhou, Xiang Qiu, Xiaomei Liu, Chun Zhang
Summary: This study optimized the protocol for rAAV6 transduction of primary T cells, significantly improved the expression efficiency of the rAAV6 delivered CAR gene, and successfully generated rAAV6-based CAR-T cells (AAV-CAR-T). The findings provide an efficient method for AAV transduction of T cells and an alternative way for the preparation of CAR-T cells.
BIOMEDICINE & PHARMACOTHERAPY
(2022)
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Alicja Bienkowska-Tokarczyk, Maciej Malecki
Summary: Recombinant adeno-associated virus vectors (rAAV) are valuable as gene therapy vectors due to their nanometer size and biological characteristics. A mosaic vector, rAAV/DJ/CAG, showed efficient gene delivery to melanoma cells metastasized to the lungs, with transduction being temperature dependent. High temperatures and UV light had the most detrimental impact on transduction efficiency.
JOURNAL OF BIOMEDICAL NANOTECHNOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Parasitology
Takahiko Tamura, Kazumi Kimura, Katsuyuki Yui, Shigeto Yoshida
EXPERIMENTAL PARASITOLOGY
(2015)
Article
Infectious Diseases
Mitsuhiro Iyori, Daisuke S. Yamamoto, Miako Sakaguchi, Masanori Mizutani, Sota Ogata, Hidesato Nishiura, Takahiko Tamura, Hiroyuki Matsuoka, Shigeto Yoshida
Article
Immunology
Takahiko Tamura, Kazumi Kimura, Masao Yuda, Katsuyuki Yui
INFECTION AND IMMUNITY
(2011)
Article
Medicine, Research & Experimental
Takahiko Tamura, Joe Chiba
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR MEDICINE
(2009)
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Takahiko Tamura, Joe Chiba
JOURNAL OF BIOMEDICINE AND BIOTECHNOLOGY
(2009)
Article
Immunology
Rika Kamei, Mana Miyakoda, Takahiko Tamura, Daisuke Kimura, Kiri Honma, Kazumi Kimura, Katsuyuki Yui
MICROBIOLOGY AND IMMUNOLOGY
(2013)
Article
Immunology
T. Tamura, M. Akbari, K. Kimura, D. Kimura, K. Yui
PARASITE IMMUNOLOGY
(2014)
Article
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Yusuke Kawai, Chiaki Kawabata, Miako Sakaguchi, Takahiko Tamura
BIOLOGICAL & PHARMACEUTICAL BULLETIN
(2018)
Article
Immunology
Ryosuke Adachi, Takahiko Tamura
MICROBIOLOGY AND IMMUNOLOGY
(2020)
Article
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Chiaki Kawabata, Yusuke Kawai, Takahiko Tamura
Summary: The study investigated the combination of CSP and CRPs in a BV system to enhance transduction efficacy and resist complement attack. By infecting CSP type BV to insect Sf9 cells stably expressing CRPs, the resulting CSP-CD46-DAF-CD59 BV showed significantly improved transduction efficacy in human hepatoma HepG2 cells under intact serum exposure, indicating the potential for generating BVs with novel functions through stable protein expression in cells.
BIOLOGICAL & PHARMACEUTICAL BULLETIN
(2021)
Article
Microbiology
Ryosuke Adachi, Takahiko Tamura
Summary: Malaria is a global infectious disease and immunity against it can be achieved through multiple infection-cure cycles. This study investigated the impact of repeated infection-cure cycles on the functionality of conventional dendritic cells (cDCs) and found that it can significantly affect their phagocytic capacity, potentially influencing immune responses against subsequent malaria infections.
Article
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Chiaki Kawabata, Ryosuke Adachi, Benoit Gamain, Takahiko Tamura
Summary: A BV displaying malarial var2CSA molecules was developed to improve the transduction efficiency in human cancer cells. The var2CSA BV showed significantly higher gene transduction in hepatic and pancreatic cancer cells, suggesting its potential as an improved vector for cancer gene therapies.
BIOLOGICAL & PHARMACEUTICAL BULLETIN
(2023)
Meeting Abstract
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Mitsuhiro Iyori, Andrew M. Blagborough, Sota Ogata, Hidesato Nishiura, Miako Sakaguchi, Masanori Mizutani, Takahiko Tamura, Kento Genshi, Satoshi Shimada, Daisuke S. Yamamoto, Hiroyuki Matsuoka, Shigeto Yoshida
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE AND HYGIENE
(2017)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Mikael J. Pittet, Jan Grimm, Cedric R. Berger, Takahiko Tamura, Gregory Wojtkiewicz, Matthias Nahrendorf, Pedro Romero, Filip K. Swirski, Ralph Weissleder
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2007)